Not bad at all. 2 midterms worth 45% total, final is 35. Exams averaged like over 80% I think. Lectures are recorded but doing the hw and discussion problems are more helpful. Didn't feel the need to go to office hours really. Make sure to redo hw, quiz, and exam problems. Overall the course is alright and prof ow is sufficient.

After taking 14D with Dr. Reilly, I desperately wish that I had Dr. Ow for 14D. In 14C, the classes were fast-paced but clear. If you do ALL textbook problems assigned you will succeed. Dr. Ow's lectures have a lot of content, but he rarely falls behind and plans the class well. He finished with content before exams so you have time to prepare. You know what will be on the tests as long as you keep up with the material.

As someone who did AP chemistry and IB chem HL in high school, this class was nothing like high school. The materials covered before the first midterm were really basics chemistry, like stoichometry and balance equation, but after the first midterm everything just spiraled downwards. We started getting to quantum mechanics and other quantum theory. It felt more like a physics than a chemistry class and it took a while for me to understand everything. I took this class for GE and my love for this class and chemistry slowly diminished after week 5. Professor Ow is a straight-forward lecturer. Most of the times he simply introduced the topics and guided us through an easy example and left us pondering on the the harder problems. The recommended textbook problems helped to some extents, but some answers in the back were incorrect so…

This prof is GREAT! But honestly, 20A is more like a physics class than a chemistry class for the bigger portion of the class. Professor Ow is really skilled at explaining concepts. He's great at teaching and you can catch on quickly. However, towards the end of the quarter when things got tougher, he seemed to struggle a bit and was rushing to cover everything. Luckily, his classes are recorded, which helps.

Attendance in discussions was mandatory, and they counted for 10% of our grade. We had to complete a worksheet in groups and we were graded on completion not accuracy.

He has no homework but he had weekly quizzes online (he drop the lowest 2) - however, you cant see your grade for the quiz until after the deadline.

The midterms were mostly straightforward with lots of calculation questions, but one small mistake could really hurt your grade. No cheat sheets were allowed, but he provided all the necessary equations. The final was different—it was all multiple-choice, 27 questions worth 25% of our grade, covering all the chapters equally. This equal distribution made studying harder since we couldn't focus on specific topics. Plus, with multiple-choice questions, a couple of errors could drastically lower your grade.

Professor Ow doesn't round grades, so if you end up with an 89.9, it stays as B+ and won't be rounded up to an A-. (I know it hurts)

Overall, the class was manageable IF you're not taking more than two difficult classes at once with it at once. (don't repeat my mistake)

loved the class but some of the textbook problems took forever bc prof ow only gave examples of simple problems & didn't always explain the more complicated concepts (esp at the end of the quarter)

This professor kinda sucks at lecturing ngl. If you want to actually gain a good understanding of organic chemistry, look elsewhere. He gets visibly annoyed every time you ask a question (even if it's a simple yes/no), and on the off chance that he does try provide clarification or deeper insight into the content, it's never satisfying or clear. He doesn't have passion for the material he teaches and often acts like he doesn't want to be there. Sometimes he is a little funny and entertaining but I never felt like this was someone who cared about chemistry or student learning to a significant degree.

One thing I will give him credit on is that he gives us printed lecture notes that are pretty decent (they are the same as the ones he uses for the 14 series though, which is slightly concerning). The homework is also very manageable and he does give us some practice materials. However, these practice materials tend to be easier than what's actually on the test. Even so, the exams are still pretty fair. Overall, I liked CHEM 30B as a class, but this professor wasn't really anything special.

I would avoid taking this class, especially with Ow. He did the bare minimum, rarely gave examples and never explained how to solve problems. The work was very manageable because it was only suggested to do the questions in the book not required. He is very passionate about the material but not really about teaching it.

Dr. Ow is an incredible professor. I wasn't terrible at organic chemistry coming into the class, but I hadn't had the best experience in 30A and was very cautious of 30B in the beginning. Dr. Ow completely changed my view of organic chemistry and now I think it's one of my favorite courses. He is incredibly organized and thorough with his lectures. Most professors I've had usually go over time or have to push back material to fit the time frame, but Dr. Ow rarely did this. He went through all the course topics and really emphasized each topic's connection to another. His emphasis on patterns and practice is the reason I passed the course. His exams are completely fair and don't contain anything unexpected. He also left a ton of time to review in class and offered really good review materials on the course website.

great professor, take him if you get the chance

Grade Breakdown:
Midterms: 35%
Quizzes(Top 4 out of 6): 20%
Discussion: 15%
Canvas Discussion: 5%
Final: 25%

A pretty fair grader, a decent lecturer, and tests are straight forward. Just go to class, try to memorize the reactions/figure out common patterns for mechanisms and do a lot of practice problems and the class shouldn't be too hard. The spectroscopy portion of the class is pretty terrible, but reaction-wise, it shouldn't be too difficult.